Puri: The Shree Jagannath Central Library and Research Institute at Srijagannath Ballav Mutt is facing problems due to the lack of attention of the Srimandir administration.
The poor state of the library building, the shortage of space for new books and inadequate arrangements for readers are long standing problems.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) had started the library in a room at Srijagannath Ballav Mutt in 1990. The library has books and journals in at least five languages.
It is learnt that the central library has around 3,000 books in Oriya, 350 each in Hindi and Sanskrit, 380 in Bengali and 382 in English. The works of many eminent poets and writers like Upendra Bhanja and Surendra Mohanty, dictionaries and journals in Oriya and religious texts in Sanskrit are available at the library.
The library usually attracts around 70 readers daily. Students and researchers are allowed to access any book or journal without any fee. Besides, many Sanskrit scholars and Srimandir servitors used to visit the library to go through records regarding the 12th century shrine, sources said.
Sources said the SJTA has not done anything to improve the library in the last 28 years. The windows, tables and chairs of the library are totally worn out due to poor maintenance.
“The SJTA has not purchased a single book for the library in a decade due to lack of space. The temple administration has not done anything to provide drinking water to readers,” said a source.
Sources said former SJTA chief administrator Suresh Mahapatra had planned to shift the library to the new office of the temple administration. However, the move was abandoned later.
“The library has some rare books and journals. The temple administration should renovate the building,” said Srikrushna Acharya, a student of Srijagannath Sanskrit University who frequently visits the library. A senior SJTA official said they are thinking of constructing a new administrative block for the shrine administration. “We are planning to shift the library to that building,” he added.
PNN